The government said Wednesday it us planning to fill 5,000 faculty positions under the National Higher Education Campaign during the current five-year plan which ends in 2017.

Support will be provided to fill positions in the category of assistant professors or equivalent cadre against vacancies, an official release said here.

A fixed Rs.580,000 per year for each faculty position will be given by the central government and any excess amount has to be borne by the state government.

All state universities will be eligible to receive grants under this programme.

The recruitment process will have to adhere to University Grants Commission (UGC) norms and regulations.

The Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) or the national higher education campaign was approved by the union cabinet last month to boost the gross enrollment ratio in schools from the present 19 percent to 30 percent by 2020.

RUSA aims to promote reforms in the state higher education system by creating a facilitating institutional structure for planning and monitoring at the state level.